Four raised beds

I just nipped out to see if I could illustrate this story properly. But the sun is half over the mountain and my potager is in half shade.

Hardly the shots this story deserves.

We are in day 20 of our lockdown here in France. Or is it 21? That shows how much things blend. But the one thing this enforced confinement has done is made me get out each day and do jobs I would normally ignore.

So for the past week I have had my head in dirt and gravel and not much else. And I think you have had a surfeit of stones.

So how about these four raised beds instead? Nicolas was poised to build the last two beds. We have the wood from the sawmill stacked up. And the special wood screws which cost more than the wood itself. One box of screws costing less than the Douglas pine offcuts plus the inner wooden uprights. I think the liner for the beds cost more than the wood.

And don’t get me fretting about the liner. I have run out with no recourse to more! The old liner from the swimming pool is looking very tempting indeed right now.

But that is a problem to solve when the confinement ends. Who knows? Maybe the shops will open.

In the meantime let me assure you that I am thrilled with my new potager. And I fear I will be sending more gravel and rocks shots your way soon.

Have some flowers!

I snuck up some bouquets to my friends when we did our first raid on a supermarket in two weeks. Suitably covered and the only contact we had was the shopping lockers outside the place – our first ever online grocery shop! And the careful placing of vases outside the butcher’s and the garage.

I could sneak cross country through the forest trails and supply my friends with flowers during These Times.

But it would be breaking all the social distancing rules. So it will have to be virtual vases for now.